Red Hair & Hand-Me-Down Robes
by HermioneLunaPotter
Summary: There's more to being a Weasley than just red hair and hand-me-down robes. The Weasley bond is unbreakable. Written for the Connect the Weasleys Challenge by Morning Lillies. Will cover the 36 individual relationships between Molly, Arthur and each of their seven children. #3 Molly/Charlie: Soft
1. Something Borrowed

**_Written for the Connect the Weasleys Challenge by Morning Lillies. _**

**_Molly/Arthur_**

**_Prompt: Something Borrowed_**

* * *

_Something Borrowed_

_May 1, 1997_

"Molly-wobbles?"

Molly lifted her head at the sound of her husband's voice and gave him a small smile. He approached her, sporting his brown dressing gown and matching slippers. She remembered when he had bought those from a little Muggle shop in London. The memory of his wide, excited eyes and his enormous grin was one of her fondest memories of him. It must have been almost twenty years since they two of them had braved Muggle London together.

"Are you coming to bed, dear?" he asked her from the bottom of the stairs.

"In a minute, Arthur," she reassured him. "Go back to sleep."

But he ignored her. Instead, he took a seat next to her at the dinner table and planted a sweet kiss on her cheek. She smiled, feeling colour rushing to her cheeks. Sometimes, even after all these years, she still saw the young man that she had married. They had both been so young, and had endured such hardships since that day, but Molly wouldn't have any other man beside her through it all.

"I can't believe it's tomorrow," she mused, a hint of sadness in her voice. Arthur reached across the table and took her hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I know," he agreed, a small smile on his lips. "I can't believe Bill is the one to settle down first."

Molly chuckled light and turned to smirk at her husband. "I thought Ron would be the first," she admitted. "He's such a romantic. Do you think he and Hermione will ever get together? I'd love it if she joined the family. She's practically family now – her and Harry."

Arthur sighed and shook his head. "Sometimes, I don't know how we raised a boy so daft. The way they dance around each other – "

"Like you and me," she turned to look at him bashfully through her eyelashes, her cheeks colouring again the way Arthur loved so much. They stared deep into each other's eyes for a moment, relishing the time alone. With all the fuss involving the wedding, they'd hardly had a minute to themselves. Family and friends had been arriving for a couple of days, and part of Molly couldn't wait for the commotion to be over.

"I went by Muriel's today to borrow that tiara for Fleur," Molly told him with an exaggerated eye roll. "That woman. You'd think I asked her to murder one of her cats, the way she looked at me."

Arthur laughed. "She's _your _family," he teased, earning him a gentle prod in the shoulder.

"Do you think they're too young?" Molly blurted out suddenly. Arthur sighed. He knew this conversation was coming. Even though she had grown to like the French girl, his wife was still worried about her oldest son.

"No," Arthur replied simply. "He's 26. Percy was born when we were that age."

Molly pulled her hand out of his grip and rubbed her temples. "It was different back then. There was a war – "

" – there's a war now – "

" – and we loved each other – "

" – Bill loves her – "

Molly looked up, her brown eyes glistening with tears. "I know," she whispered. "He loves her so very much. I just don't want something to go wrong. He's such a delicate boy, really – "

Arthur pulled her into his arms and stroked her hair. "He's strong, Molly," she told him. "Their love is strong. They'll make it through this. We did."

He took her tear streaked face into his hands and kissed her. Molly knew he was right. They would make it.

* * *

_**A/N: I've been feeling super ambitious as of late, and decided I wanted to push myself. So, I started the 36 pack of the challenge, even though I'm still going with the 78 pack. I'm just feeling the Weasley love right now. Please read and review! I would love to hear your thoughts on this :) xx**_


	2. Crash

_**Molly/Bill**_

_**Prompt: Crash**_

* * *

_Crash_

_May 10, 1996_

The cup fell to the floor with an extraordinary _crash_, shattering into dozens of china fragments and spilling tea all over the patterned tiles of the kitchen. Molly, hand poised as though she was still holding her cup of tea, stared wide eyed at her eldest son as though he had told her he was giving birth to a Giant Squid.

Bill watched his mother carefully, his hand awkwardly outstretched like he expected to faint.

"Mum…"

She blinked a few times before bending down to scoop the china pieces into her hand. Watching her strangely, Bill pulled out his wand and quickly cleared away the mess, before taking his mother under the arm and lifting her up.

"Mum. Are you okay?"

Molly nodded vaguely, and didn't protest as Bill led her over to the table and forced her to take a seat. With another flick of his wand, a new cup of tea prepared itself and appeared in front of Molly. She took it in both hands and sipped it tentatively, her brown eyes glazed over a little.

"Did you hear me, Mum?" Bill asked her again. "I'm getting married."

To be honest, it wasn't the reaction Bill was hoping for. He expected her to smile at him, hug him tight, even cry a little at the thought of her son settling down. A scolding about being married too young would've been better than this frozen, stunned silence. Bill didn't know what to do. So, he just continued to talk, hoping to rouse a reaction out of her.

"Look, I know this might seem a little spontaneous. But Fleur and I have been together for a little while now, and I love her. I love her, Mum, and she loves me, and we're getting married."

Nothing.

"I know you haven't met her, but I'm bringing her home with me to stay this summer, then the two of us will start looking for a house. I know you'll love her, Mum. She's beautiful and smart and so _perfect_. You're bound to love her."

Still nothing.

Bill sighed and ran a hand through his hair. It was out of its ponytail and just touched his shoulders.

"Alright, well, I'll leave you to your thoughts then," he muttered, making no attempt to hide his disappointment.

As he left to go upstairs, a single tear slid down Molly's cheek.

* * *

_**A/N: I've always wanted to write about Molly's reaction when Bill told her he was engaged to Fleur. I've read many different takes on this, and this is merely my interpretation. I hope you enjoyed it. **_


	3. Soft

_**Molly/Charlie**_

_**Prompt: Soft**_

* * *

_Soft_

_July 12, 1985_

"Mummy!"

Molly's head snapped up instantly at the sound of her youngest son running towards her, tears streaming down his face and arms flailing. She only just had time to bend down before he threw himself at her. Molly stroked his red hair and pulled face to cup his tear-streaked face.

"Ronnie?" she cooed in concern. "Ronnie, what's wrong? Tell mummy what's wrong."

The five year old, whose body was shaking from wild sobs, took a deep breath. "Charlie," he wailed, his bottom lip trembling. "Charlie won't let me play. Fweddie and Georgie are awwowed to play but Charlie said I can't. He said I'm not big enuff."

Molly sighed and stroked Ron's hair gently. "It's alright, sweetie. Why don't you go play with Ginny in the garden? Does that sound like fun? You like playing in the garden, don't you Ronnie?"

Ron bit his lip and nodded stubbornly and Molly smiled. "Good boy. You run along now and let Mummy talk to Charlie. There's a good boy."

She watched as Ron scuttled out into the garden and looked out the window to see her sons flying around the backyard. With a frown, she headed outside, hands on her hips.

"Charles Rupert Weasley!" she called. A few moments later, her thirteen year old son flew down to meet her, hovering just above the ground.

"What's up, Mum?" he asked, looking put out that his game was interrupted.

"Get off that broom this instant!" she glared at him. Returning her glared, Charlie dismounted and crossed his arms, looking sour. "Why did you tell Ron that he couldn't play with you?"

"He's a _baby_," Charlie complained. "All he does is cry."

"He's five. Fred and George played Quidditch with you when they were his age."

Charlie rolled his eyes. "They're different. They're tough. They don't complain about being high up. Ron's too _soft. _He can't handle it!"

Molly scowled at her son. "Don't talk about your brother like that, young man."

"What?" Charlie shrugged. "It's true. He's just a cry baby! We'd let Ginny play with us if you'd let her. Bill or I could take her up."

"No!" she retorted flatly. "That isn't the issue. You made Ron cry!"

Charlie merely shrugged his shoulders again. "So? He'll get over it. He needs to learn to toughen up."

Before Molly could respond, Charlie threw his leg over his broom and soared up to rejoin his brothers. Molly was seething, but as she looked over to where Ron and Ginny were playing – Ron was crying because he cut his finger on a small stick – she realised that maybe her surly, teenage son was right. Ron was a little soft.

'He's only a baby,' she told herself and went back inside.

* * *

_**A/N: I've always seen Ron as being a little bit of crybaby - the opposite of Charlie, really. I know this doesn't feature Molly and Charlie on their own, but I hope I did them justice with the prompt I was given. Hope you enjoyed it! :) xx**_


End file.
